1. Field of Invention
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This invention relates to a new window comprising built-in devices that can sense carbon monoxide in the inside environment of a room, especially in bedrooms where humans or animals sleep; and when a dangerous level of carbon monoxide; is sensed automatically opens by itself to reduce the concentration of carbon monoxide; allowing a flow of outside air to enter the room to ventilate and mix new oxygen with the contaminated environment inside the room; to save the occupants lives without depending on any human physical action, any external power supply, or a short term life replaceable alkaline batteries.
The main purpose of this new invention is to avoid and/or minimize the most dangerous effects of carbon monoxide poisoning to human beings; from brain damage, to the death.
According to a report from Judith Katz, Director Air Protection Division U.S. EPA Region III (Release date: Feb. 9, 1999): “Every year, poisonous gas backup from clogged chimney or defective furnaces as well kerosene heaters, propane heaters, electrical generators or domestic gas cooking burners and ovens, to name few, send 15,000 people to the hospital and kill 700 Americans.”
When an emergency takes place and people start getting poisoned by carbon monoxide, disregarding the source of the carbon monoxide; there is a need for an immediate action: provide ventilation to the affected area, to minimize the carbon monoxide concentration and supply clean air with oxygen; otherwise the occupants will die poisoned by the accumulated carbon monoxide; this is a confirmed fact: Air Protection Division U.S. EPA Region III.
The invention that I claim will take the immediate physical action to resolve the problem when the emergency of carbon monoxide concentration takes place; by automatically opening the universal sash of this new window and giving a “first aid of fresh air” to the occupants in the contaminated room, without depending on any unreliable power supply to activate the window devices, while at the same time the warning alarm will sound; and if the accessible contacts are connected to a private central station alarm company, the built-in devices will trigger the alert to the Fire & Police Department to provide immediate assistance to humans and/or animals and to protect the opened window of the residence, if at the time of the occurrence the residence is unoccupied; the normal/routine use of manually open and close of the window, will not trigger the alert to the Fire & Police Department; and the accessible contacts connected to a private central station alarm company will not interfere with any other burglary alarm system connected/installed to this window.
To be more specific, the devices of this new window that sense carbon monoxide and automatically open by itself, are powered only by the exterior light; this light is transformed into electrical energy by two sets of independent solar cell devices 6a and 6b exposed to the daylight 365 days a year; and disregarding cloudy days, the amount of charging energy produced by the solar cells are extremely higher compared to the consumption of the comprised electrical devices; the two sets of rechargeable battery devices 5a and 5b are continually charged by this electrical power; the set device 5a that powers the carbon monoxide sensor device 2, the sound alarm device 3, the switching relay device 4 that controls the unlatch device 8; and the set devise 5b that powers the unlatch device 8 and the normally open and normally close relay device 9 that activates the accessible contacts device 10; have a set of built-in reverse diodes devices 20a and 20b comprised in the solar cell device 6a and 6b, to prevent the rechargeable battery devices 5a and 5b from discharging during the night or any lack of light.
This is how this new window works: the built-in carbon monoxide sensor device 2 comprised in this window, complying with the latest UL standards, senses the level of carbon monoxide 24 hours a day; and when a dangerous level of carbon monoxide is sensed, it will trigger the sound alarm device 3 and will power the normally open switching relay device 4; therefore, powering the electric unlatch device 8 to unlatch the latch/handle device 13 and releasing the universal jamb device 14 with its attached glass pane device 19 or any of the variety of pre-assembled windows device 21; popping open, swinging on the pivoted hinges device 15 mounted on the bottom of the primary jam device 12; pushed open by the set of built-in springs device 16 and hold open by the holding brackets device 17; allowing a flow of outside air to enter the contaminated room and ventilate the carbon monoxide concentration; to save or prevent poisoning or death of humans and animals; at the same time, the normally open and normally close relay device 9 will be powered by the normally open switching relay device 4; that will activate the accessible contacts device 10; and if these accessible contacts device 10 are connected to a private central alarm station company; will trigger the alert to the Fire & Police Departments to provide immediate assistance.
If this windows that I claim are interconnected in the same floor of the dwelling or in the all house, by the interconnections contacts device 22; when any of the windows inter-connected windows senses a dangerous level of carbon monoxide all the inter-connected windows will pop open to ventilate the all the rooms/locations where the windows are located, to allow a flow of outside air to enter the rooms and mix new oxygen in the other possible contaminated rooms and/or create a cross ventilation
Through the above described, I claim that my present invention can make a difference in preserving the lives of many people; and the use of this invention can change future EPA reports of the humans that die poisoned by carbon monoxide and the ones that after being poisoned by carbon monoxide survive; but remain with permanent brain damage for life.
2. Description of Related Art
The existing carbon monoxide detectors that comply with UL standard 2034 (1998 revision) and the IAS 6-96 new standard, are doing a great job protecting and preventing the loss of life, but there are some issues that need to be addressed to be more effective in saving human lives; these issues are: the dependency in domestic electrical supply and/or replaceable short term life alkaline batteries and the inconsistency of humans in replacing dead batteries; and of more direct consequence and main issue is that the current carbon monoxide detectors do not take any action to resolve the problem when an emergency takes place; they only give a warning sound alert.
Currently used carbon monoxide detectors only protect the occupants with a sound alert, which alerts the occupants that the levels of carbon monoxide have reached a dangerous level of carbon monoxide; this protection is not efficient enough, especially when the majority of the carbon monoxide detectors are located only in the hallways of every level of residential homes (as per national building codes); making this factor an issue in how well the persons can hear the sound alarm from the bedrooms; and even if carbon monoxide detectors are located in the bedrooms, we have to have the following in consideration:
Most elderly people normally have a percentage of hearing loss as well as a very slow reaction to emergencies and confusion due to the age.
This also applies for young children—even if they can hear the alarm, they don't know what it is for or what to do; these two age categories are the most sensitive and most likely to be affected and poisoned by carbon monoxide in a short amount of time even with lower PPS (Particles Per Second) of carbon monoxide.
All other age groups can also have problems hearing the warning alarm of the present day carbon monoxide detectors if they are sleeping, overtired, stressed from daily activities or under the influence of medications or alcohol; or for people that go to sleep listening to loud music, using earphones, iPods or watching television.
And the last to consider is that in this “time of electronics”, it is very common hear all kind of beeping alarms such as cell phones, oven timers, microwave timers, dishwasher timers, wake-up alarms, washer machine timers, dryer machine timers, reminder alarms, smoke detector alarms, home security alarms, cordless phones, answering machines, and watches, to name few; which can be similar to the alarm of the current carbon monoxide detectors; and the getting used to these beeping would result in desensitized ears which may mislead people; not distinguishing if the alarm they hear is a threat to their life and the family or simply another daily reminder or a not dangerous alarm.
Present day line voltage carbon monoxide detectors and alarms can lose their warning capabilities and become an ineffective protection as a result of faults in the electrical power supply, which is especially vulnerable in windy, and rainy days as well in snowstorms; during the winter months, heating furnaces may stop working as a result of electrical power outages; and some people commit the life-threatening mistake of heating up the premises with the gas cooking burners; gas wall ovens; kerosene heaters; propane gas heaters; propane BBQ grills, anything that produces heat without the need of electricity; they do so without realizing that they are producing carbon monoxide in an enclosed area, while the line voltage carbon monoxide detectors are not working due to the failure of the electrical power supply; or if the carbon monoxide detector comprise a backup battery and stat beeping; many peoples assume that the beeping is related to the power failure.
The other current carbon monoxide detectors, powered by batteries, are also affected and can lose their warning capabilities due to the inconsistency of the occupants (human error) in replacing old/dead batteries, rendering the system ineffective.
Other present carbon monoxide protection for human beings as: U.S. Pat. No. 7,183,933 “Garage carbon monoxide detector with automatic garage door opening command”, protects human beings and animals only when the source of the carbon monoxide comes from the internal combustion of automobiles running inside the garage.
The above invention will not protect human beings and animals when the source of the carbon monoxide come from other sources as gas backup from clogged chimney, defective furnaces, kerosene heaters, propane heaters, or domestic gas cooking burners and ovens, used as a emergency source of heat when power failures shut down the heating furnace; furthermore, this described garage door will not function and will not protect human beings and animals when an electrical power failure occurs.
The difference in this new “Window that senses carbon monoxide and opens by itself powered by light” that I claim, is that will protect the human beings and animals disregarding the source of the carbon monoxide, and any electrical power failures.
Other present carbon monoxide protection for human beings as: “Window convenience and security system”, United States patent (Application 20070210737), also will not function and will not protect human beings and animals when a electrical power failure occurs.
This “window convenience and security system”, depends on the electrical power supply to activate all the sensors, wireless devices, main control panels, motor drives, microchips, etc.
The window that I claim does not need any electrical power supply; furthermore, other advantages of this new window are that: it is a self contained, pre-assembled, and self powered window that can be installed the same way as a regular window or a replacement window by a regular carpenter mechanic, without the need of any other trade mechanics, and does not need any electrical or mechanical assembly in its installation.
Another advantage of this new window is that the universal window sash device 14 of claim 1, allow to install and use any brand name windows of your choice and style available on the market, such as Hopper, Casement, Owing, Double Hang, or Gliding windows, including fixed windows (not operable) and custom made Elliptical, Circle top, Oval, Arch, Transoms and Triangular windows, operable or not; including its attached sashes, standard hardware, screens, grills and built-in shades or picture windows.
Another existing related carbon monoxide protection as: “Method and devices for improving indoor air quality using window” United States patent (Application 0060002836), relates to a system that monitors the indoor air quality and, when detecting abnormal air conditions (as accumulation of carbon monoxide), solves the problem “forcibly exhausting the contaminated indoor air by an electric exhaust fan through an exhaust path installed in the window frame”.
This described invention will not protect human beings and animals, because the exhaust fan powered by an electric motor will be inoperable in the presence of a electrical power failure.
This new “Window that senses carbon monoxide and opens by itself powered by light” that I claim, does not depend on any electrical power supply—only the natural, available, free and environmentally friendly light power, and will protect human beings and animals via my innovated method of operation and without the need of any human help.
While this invention has been described in conjunction with the specific embodiments of a hoper window with a universal window jamb device 14, described above in claim 1, it is evident that many alternatives, combinations, modifications and variations are apparent to those skilled in the art; accordingly, the preferred embodiments of this invention as set forth above are intended to be illustrative only, and can be used in different models and styles of windows, including replacement windows, and not in a limited sense, various changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.